Gambia, about the year 1660 or 1665, who equipped a boat abundantly
stored with bacon, beef, biscuit, rice, strong waters, and other
comfortable supplies, the weight of which, however, was so great,
that on arriving at the flats and shallows, the vessel could not
proceed on her voyage without the greatest danger. After navigating
the shallows for some time, he arrived at a broad expanse of water,
which he compared to Windermere Lake, and he now found himself on a
sudden entangled in a great difficulty, owing to a number of streams
flowing into this lake, and the consequent uncertainty which existed,
of choosing that particular one, which might be considered the main
branch or stream; and were he to ascend any other, he might find that
all his labours had been spent in vain, as it might lead him to a
quarter, at a great distance from those stations and towns, where the
Europeans had established their commercial settlements. "Up the
buffing stream," says Vermuyden, "with sad labour we wrought," and
when he had ascended further up the stream, the sailors were often
obliged to strip themselves naked, and get into the water. This was
found, however, to be a most dangerous experiment, for the crocodiles
and river horses showed themselves in fearful numbers, and fully
inclined to treat the intruders on their rightful domain, with the
most marked hostility. Vermuyden says, they were ill pleased, or
unacquainted with any companions in these watery regions, and at all
events, he was convinced that his men were not very proper companions
for them. So daring were the river horses, that one of them struck a
hole in the boat with his teeth, an accident which was rather of a
serious nature, as there was no one on board possessing any skill in
carpentry; and as one attack had been made, great apprehension was
entertained that it might be renewed, and the consequences prove of
the most fatal kind. They, however, fell upon the expedient of fixing
a lantern at the stern of the vessel, which kept the monsters at a